Vyacheslav Solovyov is a winner of 2015 R&D 100 award

Brookhaven Lab’s aFCL, developed by Vyacheslav Solovyov and Qiang Li of Brookhaven’s Condensed Matter Physics & Materials Science Department, is a novel superconducting fault current limiter (FCL) that can transmit a large amount of electrical energy during the “on” state without any added conduction losses. FCLs are devices that protect grid equipment from fault currents. The device can rapidly interrupt the flow of energy when an emergency like a short circuit occurs. The devices can be connected in parallel units and programmed to operate at a specified current level.